"You know, I just can't imagine what happened on that fire, what was going on and the things that those guys went through trying to save their own lives and save their buddies," said Batallion Chief Trig Morley, of Johnson County Fire District No. 1.

Morley has spent the last few years helping out communities that have been ravaged by wildfires. He has gone through specialized training and certifications for these types of fires. He said in every case, there's always been an unwavering top priority.

"The whole incident is built around safety," Morley said. "Everything's planned. You start with a morning briefing, you have a written action plan on a piece of paper, you brief with your division supervisor, you brief your crew."

He said that's what makes the Arizona deaths so hard to comprehend. He said he's often worked side-by-side with elite hotshots, like the ones who died. He said they're the most highly trained and skilled firefighters in the business.

"These guys can hop in a helicopter and be dropped anywhere," he said. "They can hike into a fire."

He said what they can't do is always predict what a large, raging wildfire will do next. He said these types of fires present many dangers and variables.

"An unexpected shift in the wind because of a thunderstorm thousands of miles away can cause your fire to explode," he said.

Morley showed off a portable emergency shelter that firefighters can deploy when they get into trouble at the scene of a wildfire.

"Usually, you wear it on your back and if you need to deploy it, you can pull it out and then this is your shelter in there. You pull these two rings to remove it from its housing, and there you've got two handholds there. You basically shake it out, and then you step in it, and you lay down on the ground," he said.

He said that he was told in training that the survival rate with the shelters is still only about 50 percent, and people using them will still suffer burns.

"This is your last-ditch effort. This is your last hope, right there," he said.

Morley said he doesn't know what went wrong in Arizona that cost so many firefighters their lives, but he said he has no doubt that it will be examined so that lessons can be learned from it.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Prescott Fire Department and the families that are dealing with this tragedy," Morley said.